Romans 8:29

Intro. It’s been exactly 4 years to the day since I started sending these Devotionals! My heart behind starting these was from the first time we did English camps in Hungary. I wanted to continue giving Bible studies to the Hungarian kids from the camps so I got their email addresses and went through the gospels. It grew into me emailing it to Americans also. This has been a great blessing for me to write and I’ve heard good feedback from a few of you also. But for the last couple of years God has put writing a book on my heart. My wife has been reading the book The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst, which talks about how we often say “yes” to requests when we should say “no” or we chose the wrong option of “yes” for our “yes.” The point is that I’ve been stretched thin with personal, church and writing responsibilities. Although this weekly Devotional is blessed by God, I’ve been called to say “the best yes” is focusing on writing a book and stopping the regular Devotionals. I will still post several specific Devotionals in the future.

In today’s reading we’ll look at the holiness of Jesus and how we should continually share that with others. Fittingly, we’re encouraged to stay the course and confess Jesus, even if He changes our ministry. We’re finishing out the chapter and the book today.

vv. 11-13. Confession of the Eternal

Paul exhorts Christians to “flee these things.” This doesn’t mean we try and combat them, it means to run away from them. To the best of our ability, like Joseph running from Potiphar’s wife (Genesis 39:12), we need to retreat. As always, Paul gives us a list of the things to pursue: “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness” (v. 11). Paul continues by telling us to “fight the good fight.” We’ve talked about the “Armor of God” (Ephesians 6:11-18, Devotional # 119) and something very similar to this in Philippians 3:13-14 (Devotional # 134) where there was the idea of “fight the good fight” along with enduring for the “prize” (as we’ll see next with laying “hold on eternal life”).

What does Paul mean by “layhold on eternal life”? If we’re already Christians don’t we already have eternal life? Yes, but this is a little different; instead of having our head buried in the earthly “love of money”, it should be high in the heavenly mindset. It is probable that this is referring to “The Imperishable Crown” also known as the “Victor’s Crown” (Source 1), for more on the Six Crowns of the believer see Devotional # 136. If we are to release and run from sin, then we are to pursue and grab ahold of “eternal life.”

Paul tells us to “hold” to what we were “called” and continue to confess it in front of “many witnesses” (v. 12). Paul urges these Christians to commit to these things before God the Father (“God”) and God the Son (“Jesus Christ”). He then reminds us that Jesus was faithful to witness in front of Pilate (v. 13) as we should be faithful in front of whoever we’re given an opportunity.

vv. 14-16. The Awesomeness of Jesus Christ

We’re to keep this “commandment” until the Rapture (“Jesus Christ’s appearing”). I love that Paul focuses our attention on God’s timing being different than our own. Often we want things to happen “right now” but Jesus’ timing is always best. Jesus will “appear” and rapture the Church which will happen in Jesus’ own time and at that point we no longer need to work at keeping the commandment of witnessing about Jesus. The awesome thing, as we read in Revelation, is that we get to keep witnessing about Jesus but were doing it fully on His power and not our own. As Paul shares this he begins a spontaneous doxology. He shares Jesus is “the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords,who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whombehonor and everlasting power” (vv. 15-16). What a beautiful encapsulation of who Jesus is! Yet again, the Bible reminds us of how much greater He is than us. What a vast chasm there is between God the Son and us. And yet, as we look at what a few of these words and phrases mean, we also see how humble He is to have met us where we are and be called our Brother (Romans 8:29, etc.).

We’ll look at the words/phrases: 1. “only Potentate”, 2. “dwelling in unapproachable light” and 3. “whom no man has seen or can see.”

“only Potentate” means “Sovereign” and in Greek means “might” and “power” (Source 2). The NIV translates it as “only Ruler.” So this has the same emphasis as the phrases directly after this (“King of kings and Lord of lords”).

“dwelling in unapproachable light” is a great description and reminds me of 1 John 1:5 where we’re told that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” Light reveals the truth of a matter, illuminating secrets and shadows. But the kind of “light” that Jesus is, is unparalleled. I think of our Sun, the greatest source of light for our planet; but I can’t approach it and live. In the same way God (who is even greater, having created the Sun) can’t be approached without annihilating that person. But if Jesus is that “truth-light” and lived on earth for 33 years how can He be “unapproachable”? Let’s look at the next phrased for that answer.

“whom no man has seen or can see” is an interesting phrase. A Jehovah’s Witness friend once quoted John 1:18 to me which says, “no one has seen God at any time.” He used this to tell me that since people had seen Jesus and no one has seen God then Jesus couldn’t be God. The problem is that his first premise was falsely based upon his understanding of the word “seen.” I don’t blame Him, many of us, when first reading this might look at it similarly. However, we have to remember that to have a proper understanding of Scripture we have to look at all of Scripture instead of just picking half a verse to prove a point. For example Exodus 33:20 tells us no one can see God’s face and live, and we read 1 Timothy 1:17 that said God is “invisible” (see Devotional # 195). At the same time Jacob saw God (Genesis 32:30) and Moses saw God (Exodus 33:11). So there must be a difference in how we understand “seeing God.” Most simply it comes down to how much of God we’re allowed to see. No one has seen all of God’s glory, but many people have seen a protected, safer form of God. Going back to the John 1:18 statement that “no one has seen God at any time” and reconciling that with seeing Jesus, Matthew Henry brings up four points: 1. “The nature of God is spiritual” therefore man can’t see Him with human eyes but we can see Him with faith (Heb. 11:27), 2. In the OT when God ‘showed’ Himself it was imperfect compared to making Himself known in “the incarnation of Christ”, 3. The Old Testament prophets were not as qualified as Christ “to make known the mind and will of God”, 4. Christ must be heeded since He “knew more of [God’s] mind than anyone else ever did” (Source 3).

We started this section with descriptions like “Potentate” and “King of kings” and finished with “unapproachable light” and that “no man has seen or can see” Him. This last phrase of “whom no man has seen or can see” is a fitting conclusion to the ideas of how awesome Jesus, God the Son, is. It then makes sense that Paul completes this verse that Jesus deserves all “honor and everlasting power.” Wasn’t that Paul’s point in verses 12-13 on why we should witness to others? So how do we give all glory to Jesus? There are many ways and sometimes we have our own personal ways of doing that. One is to read Jesus’ words, feel convicted and obey them. Another is to recognize Him for who He is completely. You can tell a cult that calls itself “Christian” by their denial of Jesus’ complete deity (being God). Why is Jesus’ godship such a controversy? Because if He is not fully God then we don’t have to fully obey Him or give Him all “honor” and worship. Lastly, another way to give all glory to Jesus is by making Him Lord of your life. If He isn’t sitting on the throne of your heart, governing every aspect of your life, then He doesn’t have all “honor.”

vv. 17-19. Sharing Riches

I talked about this greed being a characteristic of a false teacher two weeks ago in 1 Timothy 6:1-5 (Devotional # 206) and this is a continuation of what we read in 1 Timothy 6:6-10 (Devotional # 207), specifically vv. 9-10. There we were reminded to be content that our base needs are taken care of by God, and that dependence on worldly riches will end in disappointment and failure. Here, Paul commands that the wealthy not trust in those riches but in spiritual riches (v. 17). How do they do this? By doing “good works” (remember these are “proving works”, not “striving works” – see my St. Patrick’s Day Devotional for more). When the Holy Spirit convicts us to get our minds off ourselves and serve others we become content and spiritually rich! Remember in Matthew 6:19-21 when Jesus told us all of this world’s wealth will be lost but we have a savings account in heaven.

Ravi Zacharias tells the true story of a man who is on the top 10 wealthiest people in the world list. He came to faith in Jesus when he realized he had everything the world had to offer but was still empty inside. Zacharias uses this man’s simple faith to illustrate Jesus’ explanation that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for the rich to get into heaven (Matthew 19:24, Source 4). These “good works” of sharing God’s blessing with others, giving hope to the hopeless, will be “a good foundation” for “eternal life.” This is what I’ve been telling you! This life is a training ground for us to learn about Jesus and share Him with everyone!

vv. 20-21. Staying the Course

Paul choses an interesting way to end the book and chapter (although originally the letter didn’t have chapter demarcations). He encourages Timothy to be faithful to work on what had been committed to him. This was more than just punching a time clock in ministry to the Lord; God had specifically called Timothy (2 Timothy 4:5) to his ministry. In the same way God has called each of us to specific ministries. Often this isn’t a calling to be a pastor or missionary to Africa, instead it’s to be faithful to proclaim Jesus at your work, or in your neighborhood or with family. We may be called to something specific for 6 months and move to another thing, or 60 years of the same thing. But we can’t let anything (in Timothy’s case it was fabricated “knowledge”) deter us from what God has called us to do.

Conclusion. I want to be faithful in what I’ve been called to do. And I want you to be faithful to your calling. For me I feel like it’s time to stop these weekly Devotionals and focus on the book. I will continue to send the special Election Devotionals each month and I hope you continue reading the Bible and having daily devotions on your own. This week’s teachings in our confession of the eternal, the awesomeness and the rightful worship of Jesus, recognizing our spiritual riches and sharing them and staying the course of our Christian walk is a great way to finish these regular Devotionals. Remember, do not stray “concerning the faith.” Stay rooted and grounded in the Lord and He will give you the strength to continue the ministry He has given you. “Grace be with you. Amen.”